Buffering against burnout!

The Cambridge Dictionary lists “buffer” as a verb that means “to provide protection against harm”.

As a consultant working in the area of conflict resolution and conflict prevention, I often get to discuss strategies with clients, around:

• mental health and wellbeing;
• how to deal with conflict;
• how to deal with change; and
• how to manage difficult conversations.

Many of these strategies incorporate elements of self-care including:

• taking meal breaks;
• effectively managing tech rather than allowing it to manage you;
• taking time to relax and allowing yourself some “me” time;
• eating healthily;
• the benefits of exercise; and
• mindfulness and breathing to calm yourself.

Leaders need to take time out too

Much like busy parents, business owners and leaders are usually too busy taking care of their team members to stop and take the time to take care of themselves.

I had these same lessons brought home to me recently when I took some time out to travel overseas for the arrival of a family baby.

I was in a country and area where power is often optional and wireless reception fairly sporadic. This allowed me a 15 to 20 minute window only, every second day for access to emails and any communication deemed “important”.

As an aside, I was checking in on work because I run my own business. If you are an employee, you should not be accessing work on your tech while you are on leave.

I re-learned the benefits of having long conversations with friends and family, reconnecting on a more rewarding level than afforded by the 24/7 technology era. A four year old taught me a new respect for creatures of the planet (and four year olds also) and I was reunited with my old friend, literature.

Not just any literature and not the work related, study or industry literature that has been my mainstay for a number of years. Mind freeing, adventure invoking literature that took me back to a time when I used to liberate four books from a library at a time and had to exchange them a week later.

Mindfulness is immersing

I used mindfulness strategies in immersing myself in my location and surrounds. I let go of anything related to work (outside of my 15-20 minute time slot).

The result: I have returned energised and brimming with renewed enthusiasm for work and I am much calmer within myself. I am committed to maintaining my rediscovered relationship with literature and I’m sure it will provide me with the mental and intellectual down time that I encourage my clients to access.

If you or your leadership team would like to leverage these strategies, contact Blackforrest Consulting for coaching and mentoring.